


ghost towns

by snails_n_brokenbones



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Dark Peeta Mellark, F/M, Geese, Ghosts, Hallucinations, Hurt No Comfort, OOC! Peeta, Post-Canon, Sad, kind of?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-12 22:28:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29267997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snails_n_brokenbones/pseuds/snails_n_brokenbones
Summary: Katniss takes a large gulp of her tea. She knows that she should just ignore Peeta, but he does seem to have a way of digging under her skin at every opportunity present.----Katniss sees Peeta. No one else sees Peeta
Relationships: Katniss Everdeen/Peeta Mellark
Comments: 10
Kudos: 26





	1. CHAPTER 01

She puts on classical music. There's no real reason for the classical music, but it draws a rare smile out on Peeta's face. Correction, a rare genuine smile. He smirks a lot, Katniss notes, but rarely smiled genuinely. So she puts on classical music. The radio crackles occasionally, but it's a good background music for the days activities. 

Katniss likes to think of herself as extremely busy, because when you list it all down on paper, she has a lot of responsibilities to take care of. The problem is, those responsibilities only last roughly half of her day. So she spends the afternoon around the house, sitting at the table and chatting. 

The morning was filled with buying food from the newly reformed market, helping Haymitch with the geese, trade around, reply to letters from Annie, ignore letters from her mother, and more. But now, Katniss relaxes and leans back in the chair, staring into her cup of tea as if trying to predict her future with the leftover leaves. 

"It won't work, y'know." A annoyingly familiar voice chimes in, leaning across the table on his elbows. "All that psychic stuff is a whole load of baloney. They say that you'll end up happy with two kids and a sane mind, but here you end up!" He gestures to himself, chuckling wildly as he does. 

Katniss shoots a glare at him. "I don't have time for this." She lies through her teeth, gripping the tea cup ferociously. 

Peeta raises one eyebrow. "My dear Katniss, you have more than enough time to at least be polite to me. Didn't your mother teach you proper social etiquette? You're not supposed to be rude to people who sacrificed their life for you." He waggles his finger at her, cheery tone contradicting his dark words. 

Katniss takes a large gulp of her tea. She knows that she should just ignore Peeta, but he does seem to have a way of digging under her skin at every opportunity present. 

"I'm going out." She announces, standing up quickly. Katniss marches to the front door and pulls her coat over her shoulder. She's in no state to go out, but Haymitch doesn't care what she wears, and she can't be bothered to get all fancied up. 

"Without me? Katniss, I'm simply wounded." Peeta draws, following her out of the house, not grabbing his coat. It's still hung up on the coat rack, despite Sae gently nudging Katniss to move it. Place it with the rest of Peeta's belongings in the attic. Katniss doesn't know why she still keeps it up. He doesn't need it anyway. He doesn't wear it anyway. 

Katniss wanders around town, thankful that no one questions what she's doing. She never goes on afternoon walks; It's not part of her daily routine, and Katniss always sticks to her daily routine. But she's entirely sure that if she spends one more minute in a confined space with Peeta she will go insane. 

Or more insane, at least. 

"Katniss!" Delly bounds up to her, looking slightly surprised, but not in a bad way. "It's good to see you. I've missed you. I just got back District 2 last night. How has everything been?"

Katniss represses a sigh. Sure, talking to Delly is better than sitting and being taunted by Peeta, but not by much. It's too much sunshine and too much kindness for one person to possibly contain in their being. It should be illegal. Punishable by public execution. It's a bad thought, but Katniss nearly smiles at it. 

"Good. Just doing the usual. Helping Haymitch with the geese. Catching up with everyone." It's a vague answer, but Delly nods. 

"Tell her to sod off. We don't want her here." Peeta says sharply, rolling his eyes behind Delly. Katniss blatantly ignores him. She's gotten good at that, pretending like Peeta isn't making bunny ears behind whoever she talks to. Don't look at him, don't answer him. Don't acknowledge him. Simple enough. 

Delly grasps Katniss's hand. "Well, it's been good to talk to you, but I really have to get going. Hopefully we'll meet up soon, right?" Before Katniss gets a chance to answer and decline, Delly walks off, waving as if they're friends. They're not. 

"Thank god she's gone!" Peeta exclaims loudly, throwing his arms up in the air. 

Katniss shoots him with a glare once they're out of sight. She'd rather not get labeled as crazy for talking to herself. Besides, she isn't talking to herself. Pretty much. Kind of. "Weren't you friends with her? What, didn't you guys like each other? You dated, right?" She questions. 

Peeta cackles. "Dating? Oh god, Delly's into women. Ladies. She even had a girlfriend." His expression sobers and he frowns down at the ground. "Had being a keyword. Rosemary died in the bombings." Then of course, because Peeta can not go a minute without making a dark joke, he adds, "Guess that's one thing we've got in common. Except, my death is your best friend's fault. Funny, huh?" 

Katniss sprints all the way back home.


	2. CHAPTER 02

Sometimes, it's hard. Sometimes, Katniss messes up and she gets either weird looks, or expressions filled to the brim with plain old pity. She hates the pity more. So yes, she does struggle with it. 

It being using past tense while talking about Peeta. 

Thing is, it's hard to say that someone loved the colour orange when they're standing next to you, scowling up at the sky like it has personally offended them. 

Which is exactly what Peeta is doing as Katniss helps Haymitch with the geese. 

The geese are annoying and loud and complete pests, but Katniss would be lying if she said that she didn't feel a small bit of affection towards them. They're brats, but they're her brats. 

Haymitch named the geese after old tributes that he mentored. So of course, there's Peeta the goose. While all the other geese were bought together, Peeta the goose was found by Katniss while she was by the lake. He's missing one of his legs, and after a shared look, Haymitch and Katniss knew his name. 

Peeta the goose most definitely enjoys being loud and annoying. He makes for a good alarm clock, just like the real Peeta does. He also jumps in the small pond at any given opportunity, meaning that Katniss was forever having to go and help him out. 

She's having tea with Haymitch. He was the one who invited her around. For a chat, he had said. Katniss doesn't know what he meant, because they're not doing much talking currently. In fact, the only sound in the geese. And real Peeta laughing. 

He likes the geese. Likes teasing them, but it's friendly teasing, nothing like what he   
tells her when she's trying to fall alseep. When she can see nothing and hear nothing except for the angry hiss of his voice. But she doesn't reminisce over that now. Just watches Peeta laugh out of the corner of her eye as she drinks tea with Haymitch. Both of them are good at pretending like this is a normal thing for normal people to do. It is. It's just that the circumstances are far from normal. Also, normal people don't see supposedly dead people laughing.. 

It is far from normal, but it's good enough for Katniss. 

Peeta squats down beside Peeta the goose, who is stumbling around in the pond. "Personally," He says, "I see the resemblance. Do you?" He turns to face Katniss, pulling a funny face, so that she can't help but laugh. 

Haymitch gives her an odd look and Katniss blushes deeply red with embarrassment. "Just the geese." She amends, clenching her jacket with her hands. Nervous habit. 

Haymitch nods and stares wistfully out into the garden and to the pond with Peeta the duck. Katniss knows that he can't see the Real Peeta, but her breath still hitches when Haymitch's eyes flit over where he is. "Yes." He replied. "They're funny creatures." He seems a bit out of it when he stares down at his tea, frowning. "I need something stronger. How do you feel about whiskey?" 

Katniss shrugs. Sure. She's drunken whiskey on occasion, but that had been ages ago. So why not? What's she got to loose? 

Everything. Her sanity, most importantly, but she's also lot whatever poise and grace she ever contained beforehand. 

Haymitch is passed out on the sofa inside and Katniss is staring into the flames of the fireplace, her whole body shaking. Every so often, there's a small hysterical scream that escapes from her lips as the fire laps up, but she's silent for the most part. 

That's not to say that it's quiet by any means. The room is alive with voices shouting and screaming behind her. Katniss can recognise a few. Cato, Clove, Rue, Thresh, Madge, to be specific. But she can't make out what they're saying. It's indecipherable. Besides, Katniss's eyes are fixed on the fire. 

Because Prim is in the fire. 

The young girl is sitting, the burning flames slowly disfiguring her face until it is hardly recognisable as Prim. All that stays is the blonde hair, whipping in the wind. Katniss watches Prim slowly melt apart, transfixed on her worst nightmare. It's every thing she sees at night when she can't sleep, and she can't look away even if her life depends on it. 

Peeta is in front of her, crouched down. He sighs and lifts her chin up with two slender fingers. Upon making eye contact, Katniss can't help but gasp loudly. Just like Prim, his skin is marred with burns, ranging from the pale ivory of his skin to a deep crusted red. Even on the worst nights, the nights when Katniss's screams echo through the streets and all she can see is red, she never sees Peeta burned. Never. 

There's a first time for everything. 

Peeta's muttering something under his breath, breaking his eye contact away from Katniss. His voice blends into the crowd of sour memories behind Katniss. He's one of many she'd caused the suffer, but one voice rises above all. 

Prim. 

Prim is yelling at Katniss, tears spilling down her burned and blackened skin. "How dare you? You left me. You left me and it's your fault. You promised that you'd protect me and you didn't. You let me die. You left me!" Prim's tone is accusatory, rage seeping from each word. 

Katniss doesn't reply, because really, Prim is entirely correct. And Katniss doesn't know how to reply to those truthful statements, each one feeling like a knife in her heart. At least the knives would finish her off. Now, all Katniss can do is wait for sleep to come. 

It's the last time she drinks whiskey.


	3. CHAPTER 03

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter may come off as disjointed, and I'm not entirely proud of it. I started writing it and had it perfectly planned out in my head, but then I had to take a small break.

Katniss closes her eyes, letting the wind brush against her skin. The chill is slightly too cold, and with the temperature drop means winter is coming soon. Winter is hard. Winter means needing more layers, and Katniss doesn't have more layers.

Didn't have more layers. 

Because she has more layers now, because that's one of the many joys of being a Victor. Wealth. Oh, and the eternal nightmares of watching people die. That part may suck. 

But today's an okay day. Katniss is sipping tea and classical music is playing. So yes, today is okay. 

"Don't you prefer hot chocolate?" Peeta asks, raising one eyebrow up delicately. He's sitting on the edge of the patio, spinning a dry blade of grass around in his fingers. 

"I don't have any hot chocolate." Katniss snaps back. He's correct. Sometime, when she can't calm down, she remembers the taste of the bittersweet chocolate drink in her mouth. She misses it. 

"We had some at the bakery. When she was in a good mood, my mum would make it for me and my brothers. We'd all sit around the table and drink, and talk. It was nice." Nice isn't a word that is usually used to describe Peeta's childhood, but he seems happy at the memory. "There's probably some still there. It's not as good as the Capitol version, but it's still great." He shrugs. 

"Are you suggesting that we break into the bakery for hot chocolate?" Katniss has to laugh at the absurdity of it all. Here she is, arguing with someone who's supposed to be dead about whether to break in and enter for hot chocolate. 

Peeta's suddenly behind her, and his hands are on her shoulders, fingers tapping against her collarbone lightly. He knows exactly what to do, what makes her relax, and she hates it. He knows thing about her that she doesn't even know. "But why not? It's technically mine."

Katniss leans her head against his chest, letting his nifty hands massage her shoulders. She places her tea on the floor, music still playing behind her. "It was yours before it got destroyed." She gently reminds him. "It's owned by new people now."

Peeta grins, leaning over her. His cerulean eyes sparkle with anticipation, and for once he looks like a young boy. What he might have grown to be if fate hadn't twisted him into nothing more than a ghost. If he hasn't been reaped. 

"What they don't know won't hurt them." He whispers. 

Katniss can't believe that they were doing this. This is the height of stupidity, the height of all idiocy known to mankind. But God does it feel incredible, the child-like glee growing in her chest. 

Katniss feels alive. 

She feels alive as she tosses a rock carelessly into the bakery window. She feels alive as she clambers inside, Peeta on her tail, careful to not tread on the broken glass. She feels alive when she knows that what she's doing is wrong. 

And it feels great. 

They find the drinking chocolate in one of the cupboards. Katniss heats up the milk as Peeta paces around the bakery, running his fingers around it all. He's frowning slightly, and Katniss knows better than to interrupt his brooding. So she let's him have his moment. The bakery his childhood home. 

The hot chocolate is done and Katniss pours two cups. One for her and one for Peeta. He doesn't drink his, so she drinks it. She's drunken too much, Katniss is aware of that, but she's feeling great. Is this a sugar-high? She feels like jumping up and down and doing something fun. She feels like laughing. She feels like screaming. 

So she does all of those. 

"Boo!" Peeta yells, smearing her fave with his fingers, which are covered in flour. Katniss laughs loudly and dives her hands into the nearest flour bag, wiping her hands over Peeta's chest. This turn into a full on wrestling match, which turns into tickle fight. 

Katniss is laughing. 

Flour is dumped on the floor, after Peeta knocks it over. 

"What are you doing here? Who are you?" A voice just about screams. 

Katniss isn't laughing anymore. 

Peeta's gone. 

Someone raced into the kitchen, examining the kitchen with shocked eyes. "This is going to take me forever to clean up. What are you doing?" He stares at her with scrutinizing eyes, stumbling back when he recognises her. "Katniss Everdeen. What are you doing in the bakery?"

Someone else runs up, barely noticing the mess. "Charlie? What's wrong? I heard a loud noise but-" She pauses when she sees Katniss, looking back up to Charlie with a mildly panicked expression. "Katniss Everdeen. Why- I'm not even going to ask. Let's get you home." She says, leaning down to look Katniss in the eyes. 

Charlie scowls. "Darwin? Really? Are we really going to clean up after her mess? Shes the one that trashed our home. And broke in." 

Darwin sighs and hauls Katniss up, supporting most of her weight. Katniss glances around frantically for Peeta. He has to be here. He was here before, but now he's gone. "I know," Darwin begins, "But look at her. She can hardly stand up. The least I can do is help her home. We'll deal with the breaking and entering tomorrow. I promise." She says. Charlie huffs, but nods and helps Darwin support Katniss's weight. 

The journey home is a blue. A blur of Katniss staring blindly at the ground, because what just happened? Now that the sugar-high has faded, everything seems dull by comparison. It was a stupid idea. Katniss loved it though. She misses that feeling. The race of her heart, the smile on Peeta's face. 

Joy. 

She misses joy.


	4. CHAPTER 04

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while, and I must admit that most of that time was procrastination. But the idea for this chapter came to me in the middle of night and demanded to be written. It's all over the place, but that's pretty accurate to how Katniss is doing.

Apart from the usual people- Sae, Haymitch, and occasionally Delly -Katniss didn't get any visitors. So when her doorbell rings, she's confused. Perhaps it's Darwin, the nice lady who know owns the bakery. Or Charlie, her not-so-nice brother. Katniss slowly makes her wat to the door, blanket trailing behind her like a cape. 

She opens the door just a smidge, not wide enough for a knife to fit through sideways, but enough for her to see who it is. 

Gale. 

Gale Hawthorne. 

Gale Hawthorne is standing on Katniss's doorstep. 

She nods at him calmly, before slamming the door and screaming at the top of her lungs. Rage. That's all she feels. Rage like a soaring bird diving down for its prey. Rage like waves crashing over each other and sinking a small red sail boat. Rage like an avalanche of dirt tearing its way down a Rocky Mountainside. Katniss grabs something, a vase perhaps, but she can't care enough to check, and chucks it across the hallway. It shatters against the wooden floorboards, and Katniss laughs. Loudly. 

She takes a couple of deep breaths, slowing her erratic heart beat down. A few more deep breaths, and then she opens the door. "So sorry." She says insincerely. She's smiling, but it's the charade that she perfected for the cameras. "Please do come in! Can I get you a cup of tea." 

Gale steps inside hesitantly, staring at Katniss as though she's a ticking time bomb about to explode in him. Perhaps she is. Perhaps she truly is about to explode. That would be fun. 

"I apologise about the pottery on the floor. It's normal." The words are out before Katniss can think about them, and she doesn't want to think about them. "Now, how do you like your tea?" She asks brightly. 

"I'm not thirsty." Murmurs Gale. He carefully steps over the shards of pottery and glances around. "They said that you weren't doing so well... But I didn't quite expect this." He says under his breath. Katniss isn't sure if she was supposed go hear that, but she just shrugs in reply. 

"I've been better, I admit, but it could be worse. I could have been dead, exploded by bombs by best friend created." She replies nonchalantly. Gale is making choking noises behind her, obviously shocked, while Katniss continues preparing her own tea. She grabs the steaming cup and sits down beside him at the dining table. "So, how have you been?" 

Gale has to blink a couple times, and tug out six eyelashes, before he can continue. "So-so. I've been bouncing between District 2 and the Capitol, trying to help in whatever way I can. We've come a long way Catnip. They're completely rebuilding the government, and the justice system. They'll be representatives from each of the districts, but most decisions will be made by the whole population."

Katniss nods, not paying attention to a word Gale is saying. Truthfully, as long as the government is actively killing those she loves, like they have in the past, she can't find it in herself to care all that much anymore. "So, how's President Paylor?" She asks him. 

Gale shorts at that. "What? Like I go round and have tea time with her every afternoon? She's a busy woman, Catnip." He says, always the voice of reason. 

Katniss shrugs, rocking back and forth in her chair. Her eyes are trained on the broken pottery, jagged edges more beautiful than a work of art in a chapel. "Well, she's still human. They all are. Right?" Katniss frowns at that nice thought swimming around in her brain. "Actually, that just makes it all so much worse..."

"How so?" Gale inquires. 

"If they're just this object, this enemy, it's easy to forgot how similar to you they are. It's you against them. But when they're human? They have emotions. Morals even. And knowing someone, a human, who could look at what was going on and not see anything wrong with it, that's what scares me."

There's a pause. 

"You're not talking about President Paylor anymore, are you?" Gale asks. 

Katniss shakes her head. The conversation had never been about President Paylor. It's about memories that refuse to stay in the past, about startling realisations that came about when Katniss couldn't sleep. Katniss is stuck in the past, and Gale is but another sucky memory to add to the collection. 

There is a familiar face behind Katniss's window, right behind Gale, and it's all she can do to not sob. Gale turns to look at what she's staring at, but he sighs when he sees nothing. But it's not nothing. No, Peeta Mellark is outside the window. Katniss hadn't seen him since the disaster in the bakery, which had been a couple weeks back. But he's back. 

Katniss decides in that moment, that it never was a choice. It never was about who she couldn't survive without. It's who she'd choose to die with. Who she'd go to the end of the world for. Who she'd gladly watch the rest of world burn for. 

And she knows who that is.


End file.
